THE mayor of Ellesmere has welcomed potential plans from Shropshire Council to increase pedestrian access to enable a safe re-opening of the town.

The plans, which have not-yet-been confirmed, include potentially increasing road access to pedestrians in the town to make it easier for people to get about.

Councillor Paul Golbourne admits there are people still in Ellesmere who may not want to return to the High Street, but he hopes that Shropshire Council's plans can re-assure them.

He said: "We are looking forward to the town fully reopening and getting back to some form of normality, observing social distancing of course, although there are still a number of people who are frightened.

"Hopefully it will help to reassure them.

"We have been reasonably lucky in Ellesmere that a number of the shops in the town are food shops which have remained open and changed the way they operated, with the newsagent really stepping up to the plate by delivering grocery items to vulnerable residents, and the pubs and restaurants changing to doing delivered takeaways.

"Shropshire Council have put up a number of signs to remind people to observe social distancing, and will be closing some of the loading bays to help with the queuing at the shops."

Steve Davenport, Cabinet member for highways and transport, said final plans will be revealed in the coming weeks.

He said: "We've been working hard over the past couple of weeks to review our town centres and consider what changes and improvements could be made.

"We're visiting each of the main market towns, and holding discussions with local councillors and partners.

"We'll announce our final plans for each town as soon as everything is agreed and confirmed.

"Initially we'll implement schemes as trials or temporary measures, and we'll regularly monitor and review them to help determine if they should be made permanent in the future."